Sport

'I loved the game and I made good friends'

SPORTING PASSIONS: GAVIN DUFFY I REMEMBER my first game of Gaelic football was in the town league in Ballina

Wed Sept 17 2008 - 01:00

SPORTING PASSIONS: GAVIN DUFFYI REMEMBER my first game of Gaelic football was in the town league in Ballina. It was under-10s but I was only seven or eight at the time. I was a sub and I was thrown in at left half back.

I think that was because that's where the coach was standing so he more or less talked me through my first proper game. I really enjoyed it and I was hooked from the moment I played that first game.

The town leagues were a big competition in Ballina. I played under-10, under-12 and then did a lot with the school as well. We were lucky that Hugh Lynn, who was a teacher in Quay National School and is now the principal, was very passionate about all sports and in Gaelic football he gave us an opportunity to play in every game and competition that was going.

One of my earliest memories with the county was in sixth year of primary school when I played for the seven-a-side Mayo schools team against Sligo before a championship game in Castlebar. It absolutely lashed rain that day and I forgot my gloves. I couldn't catch a cold and I kept dropping the ball. I think I scored a goal soccer-style but I remember thinking 'I'll never play for Mayo again - that's my chance gone'. But luckily enough I managed to get on to the under-16 squad a few years later.

READ MORE

The first year I was on the minor team I was playing midfield with Ger Brady and we had players like Trevor Mortimer, Billy Joe Padden and James Gill. We had a lot of good players on the team and we quietly fancied ourselves. Possibly a little bit too much because we went out to Galway up in Tuam in our first championship game.

I remember sitting in the dressingroom that day and the manager JP Keane said "lads, it's in times of adversity that the true character of a man stands out - you've got to learn something from this and come back stronger next year". That really stuck to us because the following year in 1999 we mightn't have had as good a team but we certainly worked a lot harder. We got to the All-Ireland final and were unfortunate to be beaten. We lost 1-14 to 0-14 to Down. I remember I was marking Benny Coulter in midfield and he snuck in behind me to get a goal. Unfortunately the one time he got away from me a high ball went in over my head and he was on the end of it. That was kind of the decisive score of the day so that's the only thing that sticks out in my mind.

From that Mayo team there was Billy Joe Padden, Alan Dillon has come through massively and James Gill as well. I'm surprised more of them haven't come through but it's obviously very demanding.

My last game of Gaelic football was with the Ballina minor team that had Ronan McGarrity and Patrick Harte on it. I was in midfield with Ronan and we won the county final. It was a couple of weeks after the county minors' defeat so it was a nice way to finish my Gaelic football career.

There were a few players I played with that played rugby too. The year we lost to Galway, Ger Brady was on Connacht youths at the time and played in an under-19 World Cup with Ireland. The following year James Gill was an Irish youth when I was still playing Irish schools.

It was a really big decision to make when I had to choose between rugby and Gaelic football. Up until then I never had to think about choosing a particular sport. I loved the game and I made good friends. Obviously there's that thing of being on the Mayo team that's finally going to win an All-Ireland. Whether or not I would have been good enough I don't know but you see the effort the lads are putting in and especially on the big days you wonder what it would be like to be out there. But I've been fortunate enough to have good days as well with the rugby.

I know a few of the lads that have been involved in the last few years and you know how much they want to win. It just seems to be on that final day . . . it obviously hasn't gone right for them. But there's a lot of good players there and a lot of good guys and the fact they have come back time and time again to get to All-Ireland finals shows they have a lot of character. It's just a matter of trying to get back there again.